Tim Rice-Oxley

Tim Rice-Oxley
File:Tim Rice-Oxley Keane 2009-01-29 - 1.jpg
Background information
Birth name	Timothy James Rice-Oxley
Also known as	Tim Rice-Oxley
Born	(1976-06-02) 2 June 1976 Oxford, England, UK
Genres	Alternative rock, piano rock, pop rock, folk rock
Occupation(s)	Musician, composer
Instruments	Piano, bass, keyboards, backing vocals, keytar, guitar, synthesizer, recorder, harpsichord
Years active	1995–present
Associated acts	Keane, Mt. Desolation, Gwen Stefani, Kylie Minogue

Timothy James "Tim" Rice-Oxley (born 2 June 1976), is a musician, producer, singer and multi-instrumentalist best known for being keyboardist, singer and songwriter in the British band Keane. In 2010 he formed a side-project, Mt. Desolation, with his Keane bandmate Jesse Quin.

Life and career

Rice-Oxley playing his Yamaha CP-70 alongside drummer Richard Hughes during the January 2005 Tsunami Relief Cardiff concert

Rice-Oxley was born in Oxford, England to Charles Patrick and Margaret Rice-Oxley. He had piano lessons when he was a teenager but admitted to hating them and never practising pieces because they were all classical music which he found boring. After his parents stopped his lessons, he developed a liking for piano and so taught himself how to play, mainly because of The Beatles.

Keane

It was revealed in early 2010 that he was working on a side-project called Mt. Desolation along with his bandmate Jesse Quin, which resulted in an album release and supporting tour.

Currently, he provides live and studio backing vocals for Keane, except for the studio songs Sunshine, This Is the Last Time (demo version) and Your Love where he sings the lead vocals, as well as some Under the Iron Sea DVD and Perfect Symmetry demos.

Compositions

In 2006, Rice-Oxley co-wrote the songs Early Winter, and The Girl Inside (unreleased) on Gwen Stefani's second solo album, The Sweet Escape. Early Winter has been performed by Keane live. The song Perfect Symmetry from the album of the same name is considered by Chaplin to be one of the best Rice-Oxley has written. In 2009, he co-wrote the song Everything Is Beautiful for Kylie Minogue's eleventh studio album, Aphrodite.

Rice-Oxley composed all the songs for the side-project Mt. Desolation with Jesse Quin in 2010. That same year Rice-Oxley provided the main vocal in Keane for the first time on the song Your Love, which appeared on the album Night Train. He sang the song live. In 2013, he co-wrote the song Jump with Gary Barlow for the latter's solo album, Since I Saw You Last.

Alternate project

Mt. Desolation is an alt-country side-project that Rice-Oxley formed with bassist Jesse Quin. The band also consists of members of Mumford & Sons, The Killers and The Staves. Mt. Desolation released their first eponymous studio album on 18 October 2010. The band toured the UK and Ireland in September 2010 and the US and Canada in October 2010.

Personal life

Rice-Oxley lives in Polegate, East Sussex.

He has 2 daughters.

Sea Fog Studio

Rice-Oxley built Sea Fog Studio at his home near alfriston, East Sussex , The studio is so-called as it was named after the song Sea Fog from Keane's album Strangeland. Strangeland was recorded at the studio.

Influences

Rice-Oxley has cited his musical influences as Depeche Mode, U2, The Smiths, Simple Minds, Blondie, among others.

Awards

Rice-Oxley won an Ivor Novello Award for Songwriter of the Year in May 2005.

Discography

With Keane

Main article: Keane discography

Studio albums

• Hopes and Fears (2004)
• Under the Iron Sea (2006)
• Perfect Symmetry (2008)
• Strangeland (2012)

EPs

• Retrospective EP1 (2008)
• Night Train (2010)
• Retrospective EP2 (2010)

Compilations album

• The Best of Keane (2013)

With Mt. Desolation

Studio albums

• Mt. Desolation (2010)